In Texas Robert Wayne Harris (28) shot 5 people to death and critically injured one person at the Mi-T-Fine Car Wash in Irving. Harris was arrested the next day. He had recently been fired for exposing himself to 2 women at the business. Harris was sentenced to death on Sep 29.
Links: Murder, Texas, Mad Man

2000 Apr 1

In Nanjing, China, 4 unemployed youths broke into the home of Jurgen Hermann Pfrang (50), an executive for DaimlerChrysler, and stabbed him to death along with his wife and 2 children. The 4 were found guilty of murder and robbery on 7/14/00 and sentenced to death.
Links: China, Murder

2000 Apr 12

Detroit police arrested John Eric Armstrong (26), a suspected serial killer. Armstrong was reported to be responsible for killing some 20 prostitutes since 1992, when he served in the US Navy aboard the Nimitz.
Links: USA, Murder, Michigan

2000 Apr 17

In Spokane, Wa., Robert L. Yates Jr., a National Guardsman and the father of 5, was arrested for the murder of a 16-year-old prostitute and suspected in the murder of as many as 17 other slayings in Washington state.
Links: Murder, Washington

2000 Apr 18

In Michigan Kenneth Ray Miller (55), a tenant at a senior apartment house in Lincoln Park, shot and killed 2 women after he was summoned to discuss complaints about his vulgar language. A 3rd woman died days later.
Links: Murder, Michigan

In NYC an 8th livery cab driver was found shot to death in the Bronx. 11 drivers were killed in 1999.
Links: NYC, Murder

2000 Apr 26

Sparkle Rai (22), a black woman, was found dead in her Georgia apartment. She had recently married Ricky Rai (20), the manager of a grocery store in which she worked. In 2008 Chiman Rai (68) was convicted of felony murder. Prosecutors charged that Rai teamed up with Willie Fred Evans and Herbert Green to serve as middlemen. The two men passed along $10,000 to brothers Cleveland and Carl Clark. Carl Clark allegedly drove the car and Cleveland Clark, a 300-pound ex-con who also faces the death penalty, carried out the killing.
Links: GeorgiaUS, USA, Murder

2000 Apr 28

In Pennsylvania Richard Baumhammers (34) shot and killed 5 people in a racially motivated shooting spree in McKees Rocks. He was sentenced to death in 2001.
Links: Pennsylvania, Murder

Sarah Phillips (13) was found strangled to death at her home in Vacaville, Ca. Curtis Wilson (19) was arrested and later convicted of murder and attempted rape, based on DNA evidence. The conviction was upheld by the California’s Supreme Court in 2006.
Links: USA, California, Murder, DNA, Kids

2000 May 2

Former nurse Christina Marie Riggs was executed by injection in Arkansas for smothering her two young children.
Links: Murder, Arkansas

2000 May 12

Igor Domnikov (42), a reporter for Russia’s Novaya Gazeta, was found in a pool of blood at his Moscow apartment building. Domnikov died July 16. In 2007 a court in the city of Kazan sentenced four men to life in prison, and three others to prison terms ranging from 18 to 25 years after finding them guilty of killing 23 men, including Domnikov, and of eight kidnappings. The convicted gang's leader Eduard Tagiryanov, who was sentenced to life, told the court that Domnikov's killing had been ordered by former deputy governor of western Lipetsk region Sergei Dorovsky for a series of critical articles on his policies.
Links: Russia, Murder, Journalism

2000 May 18

Sante Kimes and Kenneth Kimes, mother-and-son grifters, were convicted in New York of murdering Irene Silverman in a plot to steal her elegant townhouse mansion. The body of the 82-year-old millionaire widow has never been found.
Links: New York, Murder

2000 May 24

Two gunmen killed 5 workers in a Wendy’s restaurant in the Queens borough of NYC. John Taylor (36) and Craig Godineaux (31) were arrested 2 days later. Taylor was sentenced to death in 2002.
Links: NYC, Murder

In Olathe, Kansas, John Edward Robinson was arrested on sexual assault charges. 2 female bodies were found on his property in La Cygne, Kansas, the next day and 3 more 2 days later in 55-gallon drums in a storage locker in Missouri.
Links: Kansas, Murder, MissouriMore

2000 Jun 11

In Dessau, Germany, Alberto Adriano (39), a 20-year German resident from Mozambique, was kicked to death by 3 men. Enrico Hilprecht (24) was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Two 16-year-old accomplices were sentenced to 9 years each.
Links: Germany, Mozambique, Murder

2000 Jun 16

In Mexico American expatriates Norris (67) and Nancy (62) Price were found shot to death in Ajijic near Guadalajara. A land dispute was suspected.
Links: Mexico, Murder

2000 Jun 17

In India upper-class militia stormed Miapur village in Bihar state and massacred 34 women, children and old men. The attack was in retribution for the murder of 12 upper-caste farmers five days earlier, which in turn was preceded by the murder of 5 low-caste Yadavs. Police later arrested 11 landlord-paid militiamen.
Links: India, Murder, Mad Crowd

In Texas Gary Graham was executed for the 1981 murder of Bobby Lambert in a holdup near a Houston supermarket. Graham claimed his innocence to the very end.
Links: Murder, Texas

2000 Jul 1

Lucie Blackman (21), a British citizen working in Tokyo, became the 8th Western woman to disappear in the last 5 years. In 2001 police found her remains encased in concrete near the residence of Joji Obara, a wealthy businessman and prime suspect. Obara was formally accused Apr 6, 2001. Some 4,800 tapes were found that linked Obara to some 400 rapes over 25 years [see April 24, 2007]. On Dec 16, 2008, Obara was convicted for the abduction and dismemberment of Blackman, but acquitted of her murder. The court also upheld an earlier conviction for the rapes of 9 other women. In 2011 Richard Lloyd Parry authored “People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman.”
Links: Britain, Japan, Murder, Books

2000 Jul 10

In Mexico Augustin Vasquez Mendoza was arrested in Tehuacan. In 2005 he was extradited from Mexico to the United States to stand trial for his role in the murder of DEA Special Agent Richard Fass in Glendale, Arizona, on June 30, 1994.
Links: USA, Mexico, Murder, Arizona

Christopher McCulloch (13) and Blaine Talmo Jr. (14) were bludgeoned to death on a school playground in La Crescenta, Ca. Michael Demirdjian (15) was later convicted and sentenced to 2 consecutive 25-years-to-life terms for murder by torture.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Teens Amuck

Glenn and Justin Helzer murdered Annette (75) and Ivan Stineman (85) in Concord, Ca. They were accompanied by Dawn Godman. In 2004 Justin Helzer was convicted for 5 murders. Godman was sentenced to 38 years to life. A jury gave Glen Helzer 5 death sentences on Dec 17, 2004. The brothers were formally sentenced to death Mar 11, 2005. On April 14, 2013, Justin Helzer hanged himself in his cell at San Quentin.
Links: USA, Murder, SF Bay Area

In Woodacre, Marin Ct., Ca., Jennifer Villarin (45) and James Gamble (54) were murdered in the early morning. Villarin was the former wife of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. Bishop’s daughter, Selina (22), was missing and police later arrested her boyfriend Glenn Taylor Helzer, along with Helzer’s brother and roommate Dawn Godman (26) in Concord. Body parts were discovered Aug 7 on the banks of the Mokelumne River and linked to Helzer, as was the disappearance of an elderly couple, the Stinemans from Concord. The body parts were soon identified as the remains of Ivan and Annette Stineman and Selina Bishop. In 2004 Glenn Helzer (33) pleaded guilty to 18 counts. [see Aug 1,2]
Links: USA, Murder, SF Bay Area

2000 Aug 9

Nicholas Samuel Markowitz (b.1984), having been kidnapped in Los Angeles, was murdered near Santa Barbara after a feud over drug money between his half-brother Benjamin Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood (20). The murder inspired the 2006 film “Alpha Dog.” Hollywood was not present at the murder, but ordered it. He immediately skipped town, but was arrested five years later in Saquarema, Brazil, with his pregnant girlfriend Marcia Reis. In July, 2009, he was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping and jurors recommended life in prison. In 2010 Hollywood was sentenced to life in prison.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Teens Amuck

2000 Aug 24

John Kaiser (67), an American priest of the Society of St. Joseph, was found shot to death near Naivasha, Kenya. Kaiser was critical of the government’s human rights record. In 2007 a Kenyan court ruled that his death was a homicide.
Links: Kenya, Murder

In Sasolburg, South Africa, black employee John Mosoko Rampuru (37) died after being dragged behind a pickup for over 3 miles by white building contractor Pieter Odendaal (44). On November 12, 2001, the Bloemfontein High Court sentenced Odendaal to 10 years in jail after finding him guilty of culpable homicide but not murder with intent. Judge AP van Coller suspended 3 years of Odendaal's sentence and freed him on bail pending appeal.
Links: South Africa, Murder, Mad Man

2000 Aug 28

An apparent murder-suicide left a professor and a graduate student dead at the Univ. of Arkansas. It was later found that the graduate student had been kicked out of a degree program.
Links: Suicide, Murder, Arkansas

2000 Sep 2

In Alaska Joshua Alan Wade killed Della Brown (33), a native Alaskan, by smashing her head with a rock in Anchorage. Wade was acquitted in 2003 in her killing, but was convicted of tampering with her body and served several years in prison. In 2010 Wade acknowledged her murder.
Links: USA, Murder, Alaska

2000 Sep 6

Michael Swango, a former doctor suspected in a string of poisoning deaths, pleaded guilty to killing three patients in a Long Island, N.Y., hospital, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Links: New York, Murder

2000 Sep 16

Hrihori Gongadze (31), journalist, disappeared in Kiev. He was an outspoken critic of the government and of high-level corruption. A beheaded body, believed to be his, was found in Nov. Gongadze was the founder of the Internet news site Ukrainian Truth. In 2001 the government announced that he was killed by criminals who were also murdered and that the killings had nothing to do with politics. Suspects in the murder were arrested in 2005. In 2005 a commission investigating the kidnapping and killing of Gongadze accused parliament's Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn of instigating the slaying. Findings stemmed from recordings in which voices resembling those of Lytvyn, former President Leonid Kuchma and other officials are heard allegedly conspiring against Gongadze. The trial of three former police officers charged with killing Gongadze opened in 2006. In 2008 a court in Kiev jailed three former police officers for between 12 and 13 years for the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze. In 2009 National Security Service agents arrested the fourth suspect, Olexiy Pukach, who was working as the chief of the Interior Ministry's surveillance department at the time of the killing.
Links: Ukraine, Murder, Journalism, Corruption

In Washington DC a gay, deaf student at Gallaudet Univ. was beaten to death. Thomas Minch (18) was later arrested for the death of Eric Franklin Plunkett (19). Minch was released within 24 hours. In 2002 Joseph M. Mesa Jr. was convicted of killing and robbing 2 Gallaudet classmates. [See Feb 3, 2001]
Links: Murder, DC

2000 Oct 22

In SF Claire Tempongko (28) was repeatedly stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend Tari Ramirez (27) in front of her 2 children (5 & 10) in her basement apartment on 22nd Ave. A month before her death Tempongko had lodged 2 police reports against Ramirez. In 2004 the city settled a case for police inaction for $500,000. In 2006 Ramirez was arrested near Cancun, Mexico. In 2007 he was returned to the US to face trial. In 2008 Ramirez was convicted of 2nd-degree murder. In 2011 a state appeals court overturned the murder conviction entitling Ramirez to a new trial. In 2013 the case went to the state Supreme Court to decide if the killing was manslaughter or murder.
Links: USA, SF, Murder

2000 Nov 20

In Mozambique Carlos Cardoso, founder and editor of the Metical newspaper, was murdered while driving in Maputo. He had been investigating a 1996 theft of $14 million from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique. In 2003 six men were convicted of the murder. Businessman Vicente Ramaya was later convicted of ordering the murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In 2013 a judge signed papers granting Ramaya's release because of good behavior.
Links: Mozambique, Murder, Journalism

2000 Nov 24

In the Philippines Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, a publicist who represented top political figures, was kidnapped and later killed along with his driver. Police boss Sen. Panfilo Lacson was later linked to the killing. In 2009 Cesar Mancao, a former senior Philippine police official accused of the double homicide, was extradited from the US after agreeing to testify in the case.
Links: Philippines, Murder

2000 Nov 27

In London, England, Damilola Taylor (10), a Nigerian immigrant, bled to death on a stairwell after being stabbed by members of The Young Peckham Boys. In 2001 murder charges were sought against 4 boys (14-16). In 2006 two brothers were acquitted of assault with intent to rob. On Aug 9, 2006, Danny Preddie (18) and Ricky Preddie (19) from Peckham, south London, were convicted of the manslaughter of Taylor. The 2 teenage brothers were sentenced to eight years in youth custody.
Links: Britain, Murder, Nigeria, Teens Amuck, Kids, Migrant

TimelinesA text-based site.

2000 Dec 7

In Texas Claude Howard Jones was executed for the Nov 14, 1989, slaying of Allen Hilzendager in Point Blank. Jones was the 40th execution this year and the 239th since 1982. Jones was executed based on a single hair as evidence from the liquor store killing. DNA analysis later found the strand of hair did not belong to Jones.
Links: USA, Murder, DNA, Texas

2000 Dec 10

Fishermen dragged the corpse of Dariusz Janiszewski, stripped to a shirt and underwear, from the muddy banks of the Oder River in southwestern Poland. His body showed signs of starvation and torture. In 2007 a court ruled that author Krystian Bala planned and directed the grisly killing, but said there was insufficient evidence to convict him of carrying out the murder himself. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Bala's 2003 novel, "Amok," an alcohol- and sex-fueled tale was narrated by a man named Chris, who stabs a woman after binding her hands behind her back and then running the rope to a noose around her neck.
Links: Poland, Writer, Murder

2000 Dec 13

A Sri Lankan national murdered his girlfriend, Kavitha Kandiahr (23), in Basel, Switzerland. He was arrested on Aug 26, 2014, in New Zealand under a Swiss warrant and granted interim name suppression by a New Zealand court pending an appearance next week.
Links: Switzerland, Murder, New Zealand

Derwin Brown (46), the sheriff-elect of DeKalb County, Georgia, was gunned down in what police called an assassination. Brown had promised to clean up the sheriff’s dept. and fire 38 employees. Former Sheriff Sidney Dorsey and 2 other men were charged for the murder on Nov 30, 2001. 2 other men involved in the slaying were given immunity for testifying. A 19-count indictment against Dorsey was handed down Feb 22, 2002. Melvin Walker and David Ramsey were acquitted Mar 25, 2002. Dorsey was convicted Jul 10. Dorsey was sentenced to life in prison on Aug 15, 2002. In 2005 a federal jury found Melvin Walker and David Ramsey guilty of conspiracy.
Links: GeorgiaUS, USA, Murder

In Niger William Bultemeier, a US Defense Department official, was killed. Staff Sergeant Christopher McNeely, who had run to Bultemeier's aid, survived the shooting but suffered lasting injuries. Alhassane Ould Mohamed and a co-conspirator fled in a US Embassy vehicle after searching Bultemeier and McNeely's pockets. The car was later found in Timbuktu, in neighboring Mali. On Sep 13, 2013, US prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Alhassane Ould Mohamed (42), a Malian man, for the killing and who remained at large.
Links: Mali, Niger, USA, Murder

Michael McDermott, a software tester at Edgewater Tech. In Wakefield, Mass., shot and killed 7 co-workers. He wielded a semiautomatic rifle and a shotgun. He was beset by both financial and personal problems. McDermott, convicted in 2002, was sent to prison for life.
Links: Massachusetts, Murder, Mad Man

2000 Dec 27

Software engineer Michael McDermott pleaded innocent to seven counts of murder in the shooting deaths of seven co-workers the day before at an Internet consulting company in Wakefield, Mass.
Links: USA, Massachusetts, Murder

2000 Dec

Emile Louis (d.2013 at 79), a retired French bus driver and convicted sex offender, was arrested for kidnapping several mentally impaired women who disappeared from Auxierre in the late 1970s. He was convicted in 2004 for killing the 7 mentally impaired young women.
Links: France, Murder

In Brazil Antonio Marcos Pimenta Neves, managing editor of the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo, shot Sandra Gomide (32) to death. She was a former editor of the paper's business section who had ended their relationship shortly before she was slain. Neves was convicted in 2006 but stayed free during numerous appeals. In 2011 the Supreme Court said Neves must serve his 15-year sentence after running out of appeals.
Links: Brazil, Murder

2001 Jan 10

In Nevada County Scott Harlan Thorpe (40) killed 3 people, including Laura Wilcox (19), and wounded 2 others at the Nevada County Behavioural Health clinic before he was apprehended by police near Smartville. Thorpe had refused to take medication and could not be force to do so under the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short state law. In 2000 a bill AB1421 named “Laura’s Law,” was pending to address the issue. In 2002 Gov. Gray Davis signed Laura’s Law allowing for court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment or forced anti-psychotics in most cases.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Mad Man

2001 Jan 19

Former NFL player Rae Carruth was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of conspiracy and two other charges in the fatal shooting of his pregnant girlfriend. Carruth was later sentenced to a minimum of 18 years, 11 months in prison and a maximum of 24 years, four months.
Links: Murder, Football

2001 Jan 25

A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., found 13-year-old Lionel Tate guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a 6-year-old family friend. Tate had said he accidentally killed the girl while imitating moves by pro wrestlers.
Links: Murder, Florida

Diane Whipple (33), Lacrosse coach, died after being mauled by 2 dogs in her San Francisco Pacific Heights apartment. The dogs, under the control of Marjorie Knoller, were later found to be owned by 2 Aryan Brotherhood prison gang members and kept by attorneys Robert Noel (59) and Marjorie Knoller (45). A few days later Noel and Knoller adopted Paul Schneider (38) in SF family court. Bane, one of the Presa Canario dogs, was destroyed following the attack on Whipple. Hera, the 2nd dog, was impounded. Knoller and Noel were indicted for murder and manslaughter on Mar 27. Hera was put to death Jan 30, 2001. Knoller was paroled Jan 1, 2004. In 2005 a state appeals court reinstated a murder conviction against Marjorie Knoller. Knoller was again jailed in 2008 after a judge reinstated her murder conviction. On Sep 22 Knoller was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Links: USA, SF, Murder, Animal

2001 Jan 27

In New Hampshire 2 Dartmouth professors, Half and Susanne Zantop, were found slain. James Parker 16) and Robert Tulloch (17), suspects in the murder, were arrested in Indiana Feb 19. Parker pleaded guilty in 2001 and agreed to testify against Tulloch. Parker pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life. Tuloch pleaded guilty in 2002 to murder and conspiracy and is serving a sentence of life without parole.

Benjamin Varner, a freshman at Gallaudet Univ. in Washington DC, was found dead with his throat slashed and face mutilated. Police later arrested Joseph Mesa Jr. (20), a freshman student from Guam, for the murder of Varner and Eric Plunkett in Sep, 2000. [see Sep 28, 2000]
Links: Murder, DC

2001 Feb 5

In Illinois William D. Baker (66), shot and killed 4 employees at the Navistar factory in Melrose Park and then shot and killed himself. He was about to begin serving a 5-month sentence for conspiring to steal engines and parts.
Links: Suicide, Illinois, Murder

2001 Feb 6

Gus Boulis (51), founder of the Miami Subs restaurant chain and SunCruz gambling cruises, was shot and killed in Fort Lauderdale. In 2006 it was reported that Boulis was killed by John Gurino, a man with mob connections, who was himself killed by a business partner in 2003.
Links: USA, Murder, Florida, Mafia